Cold snap a fleeting reprieve from summer heat

THE past week's weather was certainly a stark contrast to the one preceding it.

The Lockyer Valley went from being a few degrees above average to more than 10 degrees below average when the mercury fell to 19.6 in Gatton on Friday.

Either side of the area, both Ipswich and Toowoomba recorded record low daytime temperatures for February.

The cool southerly wind change came through in combination with a cloud band.

Lockyer Valley Growers president and farmer Michael Sippel said despite it appearing like it had rained a lot, most farmers he spoke to had received only about 30mm across the weekend and more would be needed to counter the impact of the dry start to the year.

"Two hot days and we won't even know it rained,” he said.

And those days might not be far off, with temperatures expected to push 40 degrees by the end of the week.

Australian Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Annabelle Ford said towards the weekend a trough would approach from the south.

"This tends to drag hot air from inland towards the coast, so it will start to heat up,” Ms Ford said.